


The Anniversary

by allyasavedtheday



Series: New Beginnings [9]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/M, Fluff, M/M, New Girl au, silly boys with their silly avoidance tactics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-22
Updated: 2013-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 19:42:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/853330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyasavedtheday/pseuds/allyasavedtheday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles and Derek kissed. So what. Big deal. They're grown ups, they can talk about it right? Riiight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Anniversary

**Author's Note:**

> Jackson's so ooc in this and I don't even care because the jydia that resulted made me happy

It’s three days after the party when Stiles blurts out, “Derek kissed me.” and then looks sheepishly from Lydia to Allison.

The girls share a look before both pinning Stiles with devious smiles.

“Tell us everything.” Lydia says conspiratorially.

“It was after the party and-“

“Wait, where was I?” Allison interrupts.

“You’d already gone to bed. We were talking on the balcony and when we came back inside he just sort of…” he trails off, getting lost in the memory. The way Derek’s hand felt clutching his hips, the way his lips felt against Stiles’, the way the kiss started all passionately and ended sweetly and- he notices the girls’ twin smirks and promptly shuts down _that_  train of thought.

“So you  _do_  like him?” Lydia asks, triumph already evident in her voice.

“What?  _No_ ,” Stiles scoffs.

Lydia and Allison giggle like creepy little girls and Stiles is already regretting telling them. “Shut up! I just haven’t been kissed in a while, that’s all! That’s the _only_  reason I can’t stop thinking about it.” He definitely should not have just admitted that.

“Uh-huh,” Allison replies with a sceptically raised eyebrow.

“Really. I just need a distraction-“

“Is that why you’ve been helping me so much with planning the party?” Lydia asks. “You’ve been avoiding him?”

“What do you think? Why else would I run around like your lapdog?”

“Seventeen-year-old me could think of a reason,” she points out, which okay fair enough but low blow.

“Whatever. The point is, I don’t like Derek and I can prove it.”

“Oh really? How?” Allison asks, sounding far too amused.

“At the party,” he decides. “I’ll find someone to take my mind off Derek.”

“Stiles, you are  _not_  hooking up with someone at my respectable anniversary party,” Lydia warns.

“Who even has anniversary parties when they’re not married?” Stiles huffs, slouching in his chair.

“It’s our five year anniversary,” Lydia responds primly.

“No it’s not; you and Jackson have been all over each other since you were like fourteen.”

“It’s been five years since the last time Jackson and I broke up and I would like to celebrate that.” Lydia’s voice leaves no room for argument. So he has to spend the next two hours trying to pay attention to all the jobs Lydia’s dictating to him and Allison and trying  _not_  to think about Derek.

It only sort of works.

*

“I kissed Stiles,” Derek admits.

“ _I knew it!_ ” Erica all but screams. “I told you guys. Didn’t I tell you?” Her gaze flicks wildly from Isaac to Boyd before she grins so brilliantly at Derek he has to physically force himself not to cringe.

“So, was it as magical as you thought’d be?” Isaac asks, feigning disinterest - Derek knows for a fact he’s enjoying this.

“He’s a good kisser, isn’t he?” Erica gushes.

“ _Erica._ ” Derek groans and buries his head in his hands.

“What? He is.” Boyd clears his throat from where he’s sitting next to her and raises an eyebrow. 

“But of course he’s not as good as you, baby,” she assures him, patting his arm and kissing his cheek. “Not that he doesn’t have merit,” she continues when she turns back to Derek.

“I knew I should’ve told Scott,” Derek complains.

“Are you kidding me?” Isaac scoffs. “He’s Stiles’ best friend. He’d kill you.”

“Have you talked to him about it?” Boyd asks, continuing to be the only rational one out of all of them.

“I’ve been busy,” Derek mutters.

“Which means you’ve been coming home late from work and getting up early for runs every morning to avoid him,” Boyd clarifies.

“He’s been busy too,” Derek protests. “We all got roped into helping with Lydia and Jackson’s anniversary thing.”

“Ah yes, you’re on balloon duty. I forgot,” Erica smirks.

“I’m never telling any of you anything ever again,” Derek huffs resolutely.

Boyd rolls his eyes exasperatedly, getting up and wandering to the fridge. “Come back to us when you sort out your love life, Derek. If you need advice between then and now, call your sisters.”

“ _Absolutely not._ ”

“Well, then stop being a baby and go talk to Stiles,” Isaac persists.

“I will.”

“When?”

“When I come up with a convincing excuse for kissing him,” Derek mumbles.

Derek has never before witnessed three people roll their eyes in sync.

*

Stiles has been at the party for an hour. It’s in the park and he has to admit, the place looks awesome; Lydia knows how to colour coordinate. Derek’s unwaveringly avoiding him and that’s fine - he can avoid Derek too. Honestly, he just really needs a distraction,  _anything_  to get his mind off Derek and their kiss.

His eyes flit over the crowd appraisingly, trying to find someone who isn’t obviously taken and also within his league.

“What about Heather?” Allison asks, reading his mind as she comes up behind him. She nods to a blonde girl talking to Lydia by the drinks table.

The name rings a bell but he doesn’t think they’ve ever met. “Who’s she?”

“She’s in Lydia’s class. Super sweet  _and,_  if I’m not mistaken, just got out of a major relationship so she wouldn’t be looking for anything serious,” she informs him.

Y’know, Allison’s not actually a bad wingwoman. “She’s cute,” he admits before deciding, yes, this could work. “Introduce me?”

Allison grins and links his arm, pulling him over to Lydia and Heather. Lydia doesn’t say anything upon their arrival and Stiles figures she expected this.

“Stiles, this is Heather,” Allison beams. “Heather, meet Stiles.”

Heather has a really nice smile and she blushes faintly when he shakes her hand. Stiles likes her immediately.

*

When Heather’s in the bathroom Stiles spies Derek and decides to corner him. They just need one little chat, surely then Stiles will stop obsessing over Derek and can focus on Heather instead.

“Derek!” he calls. He watches Derek freeze and slowly turn to face him as he jogs up to him.

“Hey.” Derek smiles but it looks more like a grimace.

“Uh…” Now that he’s got Derek here, he doesn’t actually know what to say. “Nice job with the balloons,” Stiles comments awkwardly. “That was your job, right?”

“Uh Lydia actually ordered these balloons. She had back-ups in case I screwed up,” Derek replies, just as awkwardly.

Stiles chuckles feeling some of the tension deflate, “Don’t feel bad man. She did that with all of us. So you didn’t get any balloons?”

“I did! Just not…the right ones.” Derek stares steadfastly at the ground and Stiles is done with the small talk.

“Listen, can we talk for a sec about-“

“Stiles.”

He turns around and sees Heather making her way towards them, he smiles at her briefly and when he turns back around Derek’s already gone. 

“Everything okay?” Heather asks when she reaches him.

And you know what? Fine. If Derek wants to be a baby about this, Stiles can play that game. He doesn’t care. “Yeah…Just fine.”

*

Stiles actually likes Heather. She’s really nice and  _really_  attractive and doesn’t pry.

But he just doesn’t…care. He should because she’s perfectly lovely; it’s too bad he’s too busy thinking about his grumpy roommate to really allow himself the chance to like her properly.

It’s gotten to the point in the night where Jackson plans to take the stage - where the hell did they get a stage? - to give what’ll no doubt be an incredibly obnoxious speech.

“Excuse me, everyone. I’ve got something important I’d like to say.”

Stiles rolls his eyes.  _Everything_  Jackson says is important according to Jackson.

“I’m not good with talking about stuff that matters.” He pauses and takes a deep breath. Stiles is surprised at how serious he’s being. “And believe me, Lydia is the one thing that truly matters to me. And it took me way too long to be able to tell her I love her. But because she’s crazy or maybe because she loves me too, she waited…”

Stiles smiles in spite of himself. So maybe Jackson’s capable of romantic spiels, who knew?

“Anyway, Lydia,” He seeks out her face in the crowd and Stiles sees the genuine smile on her face that she only ever wears around Jackson.

“I’d really like to marry you and if you’re still crazy or still love me, would you like to marry me too?” Jackson looks the most vulnerable Stiles has ever seen and he can’t help but gape as he watches Lydia rush onto the stage and throw herself to her boyfriend’s - correction: fiancé’s - arms.

Stiles laughs an ecstatic, incredulous kind of laugh as he watches them. When he tears his eyes away from the stage he sees Allison crying her eyes out and Scott very manfully trying to wipe his own tears. He sees Danny smiling to himself and looking at the stage like a proud parent and when he spots Derek, he’s disappearing through the crowd. Stiles is about to go on his tippy toes to try and find out where he’s going when he feels a hand on his shoulder. Heather’s lips are by his ear then and she’s whispering, “Wanna make out in the gazebo?”

…And you know what? That’s what he wants to do; he doesn’t want to think about Derek. So he nods.

Heather leads him away by the hand, looking back to grin at him. Stiles smiles back but his mind’s a million miles away. He thinks about how, if  _Jackson,_  of all people, can get over his emotional constipation long enough to tell Lydia how he feels in front of an entire crowd of people, than he should be able to man the hell up and talk to Derek.

He needs to talk to Derek.

He stops walking and Heather realises a second later, turning to look at him, confused. “What is it?” she asks.

“I can’t do this,” he sighs. “I’m sorry. You’re really sweet. And hot, seriously congratulations on the attractiveness.”

She laughs and Stiles is so glad to see her smile.

“But there’s someone I really need to talk to.”

She nods and gives him an understanding smile, “It’s okay. Go.”

He leans in quickly and pecks her cheek, “Thank you.”

“Good luck.”

*

Stiles scans the crowd but can’t see Derek anywhere. He spies Danny over by the stage and dashes up to him. “Hey man! Have you seen Derek?” he asks, slightly breathless.

“Hot air balloon,” Danny answers with a shrug, taking a swig of his beer.

Stiles definitely didn’t hear that right. “Excuse me?”

Danny sighs and puts an arm around Stiles’ shoulders, swivelling him to look at the open space beyond the party. “See that big misshapen lump over there?”

Stiles nods.

“Hot air balloon,” Danny smirks.

Of course.

*

“Hey stranger.” Stiles leans over the basket of the hot air balloon, lips quirked in a half smile. He lifts his arm that’s holding a bottle of wine and waggles his eyebrows. “Mind if I join you?”

Derek looks at him somewhat disbelieving before shaking his head with a laugh. “Sure.”

Stiles eagerly climbs into the basket and sits down next to Derek. They’re touching shoulder to ankle in the small space. He twists the cap of the bottle of wine thanking his lucky stars he grabbed a twist off and not one with a cork - he’d like to conserve his masculinity as long as he possibly can, thank you. He takes a swig before handing it off to Derek. Derek seems to consider the bottle for a minute before shrugging and taking a drink.

“I told you I got balloons,” Derek mumbles.

Stiles snickers, “You got  _a_  balloon. A hot air balloon to precise.”

“The guy on the phone confused me,” Derek grumbles defensively and Stiles refuses to think it’s adorable.

“You tried,” he supplies encouragingly and Derek scowls at him. Stiles just bites back a smile and pats his shoulder.

“So, are you happy for Lydia and Jackson?” Derek asks after a moment.

“Of course,” Stiles smiles genuinely. “I mean, it was about time Jackson grew some balls and popped the question. Lord knows, Lydia’s been hinting for months.”

Derek nods, staring down at the bottle in his hand. He hasn’t really looked at Stiles in a while. Stiles really doesn’t want to admit he misses it.

“What about you?” he asks, ducking his head to try and catch Derek’s eye. “You seem kinda off.”

“I’m fine. It’s just weird. I mean, they’re younger than me and here they are with this whole life plan and I’m just…” he trails away with another helpless shrug and passes the bottle back to Stiles.

“Are you thinking about Kate?” Stiles asks with some trepidation.

Finally, Derek meets his gaze and the timid nod he gives is sort of devastating. “I’m not still in love with her. It’s been six months, I’ve moved on.” Stiles pointedly ignores the way his heart stutters at that. “It’s just…For so long,  _she_  was my plan, y’know? And then in an instant, she was gone and so was my plan and now I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.”

“Well, if you want my opinion, she’s missing out,” Stiles murmurs before forcing some lightness back into his tone. “I mean, if _my_ boyfriend looked like you do in a leather jacket I wouldn’t let him go.”

Derek laughs weakly and bumps his shoulder lightly. A silent thank you.

“So, about that kiss…” Stiles starts after a few minutes silence.

Derek nods to himself and looks at Stiles, expression earnest, “It was a mistake. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

With them sitting so close their faces are only inches away. Derek’s so near, Stiles thinks he can pick out the individual flecks of hazel in his eyes. And in this moment right now, Stiles thinks Derek’s wrong. He doesn’t want it to be a mistake. He doesn’t want to never kiss Derek again. In fact, what he really wants to do is lean closer.

“Shut up, Derek,” he mumbles under his breath before moving in to close the distance between them.

Derek’s eyes widen minutely but then he’s nodding faintly and following Stiles’ lead.

Stiles lets his eyes drift shut when they’re only an inch apart. Derek’s so achingly close he can almost taste him. 

He almost there but then, “Hey guys!”

He snaps back irritably and glares up at Scott and Allison who are leaning over the opposite side of the basket.

He allows his eyes to flick to Derek once as they scramble into the balloon and, though he can’t really tell in the dark, he thinks Derek might be blushing.

“So,  _this_  is where you’ve been hiding,” Scott exclaims as Allison plucks the wine bottle out of Stiles’ hand.

“Mmm,” Stiles hums, trying to convey his annoyance. Derek stays silent.

“Dude, I can’t believe Lydia and Jackson are getting  _married_.” And now, Stiles can’t feel annoyed anymore because his friends are clearly tipsy and remember that thing about drunk Scott being adorable? That still stands.

Instead Stiles huffs a laugh and says, “Yeah. I was convinced you two’d be the first to get hitched. You’re dropping the ball, Scotty.”

Scott gets a scared puppy look on his face and clasps Allison’s hand all sincerely. “You don’t want me to propose yet right? Because I’m still not done planning that and I-“

Allison kisses him sweetly to shut him up.  _At least_  someone’s _getting kissed_ , Stiles thinks mutinously.

“I just realised something,” Derek speaks the first words he’s said since Scott and Allison arrived. “Lydia’s getting married.”

“You’re  _just_  realising this?” Stiles snarks because he can’t help it.

Derek glowers at him but there’s something else there too - as if Stiles could possibly read his scowly face though. He deserves a goddamn medal if he could. 

“Do you remember what she was like this week? And that was just planning a party.” Derek raises his eyebrows and Stiles knows his face is blank with realisation.

“I didn’t even think about bridezilla Lydia,” he whispers. There’s a moment where all four of them look at each other warily before Stiles pipes up again. “Are you sure we can’t fire this thing up?” he asks somewhat hysterically, gesturing to the hot air balloon.

“It could be like Up!” Scott says excitedly. “Stiles, can we go to South America?” he pleads.

They all seem to be overcome with laughter at the same time and whenever one of them looks at the other they just start laughing all over again. It’s due partly to the alcohol, partly to the hysterical dread of the coming months of wedding planning and partly to the ridiculous fact that they’re four grown adults sitting in a hot air balloon in the middle of the park.

And if Derek’s hand skims over Stiles’ and Stiles tangles their fingers together out of view of Scott and Allison, well, no one needs to know.

****

**Author's Note:**

> I love secret handholding, don't you? ;)
> 
> All characters do not belong to me and as always, you can find me on tumblr at [allyasavedtheday](http://allyasavedtheday.tumblr.com/) :)


End file.
